Niner News Thread
- Thread starter Chree
- Start date
lmao at "crybaby bitch of a franchise" did any of you niner fans call the jets that when the whole spygate shit came about?? the bears didnt take the draft picks away the nfl did......the niners broke the rules and your lucky its not worse then a 5th round pick and a swap.....goodell said he was going to stick it to people that broke rules and cheated....
this is why its bullshit, the punishment is based on 2 20 second phonecalls, in other words, 2 missed calls from the 49ers to Rosenhaus....
heres from MM
League's evidence: Two '20-second' phone calls?
This is a situation that has been mystifying from the beginning. Why would the 49ers want to pay a ton of money to somebody who essentially plays the same position as Patrick Willis? And, certainly, why would they break the rules to expedite the process of over-paying somebody who would throw the club's entire salary structure out of whack?
Very little is known about the NFL's investigation and the hearing that took place last Monday in New York. But I heard essentially the same thing from two different league sources today.
From what I can gather, the only solid evidence against the 49ers during the hearing was a phone record of two calls the club placed to agent Drew Rosenhaus, who represents Bears linebacker Lance Briggs.
One story is that there were two "missed calls" with no voice messages. The second version - essentially corroborating the first report - was that there were two "20-second" phone calls. In other words, a 20-second phone call is a "missed call."
When I asked league spokesman Randall Liu for a comment about the evidence against the 49ers, he responded, "The statement is all we are saying regarding this matter."
* * *
Here is the statement from the league office to which he referred:
"Following a detailed investigation and a hearing, Commissioner Roger Goodell has determined that the San Francisco 49ers violated the NFL Anti-Tampering Policy by contacting the agent for Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs during the 2007 season without the Bears' permission.
"The Bears had filed tampering charges against the 49ers to initiate the proceeding. The Bears re-signed Lance Briggs at the beginning of this year's veteran free agency signing period.
"Commissioner Goodell decided on the following disciplinary action to resolve the matter:
"--San Francisco will forfeit its fifth-round selection in the 2008 NFL Draft.
"--Chicago and San Francisco will switch third-round selections in the 2008 Draft. As a result, Chicago now will have the seventh selection of the third round and San Francisco will have the 12th selection of the third round.
"Commissioner Goodell noted that both the 49ers and Bears fully cooperated with his investigation and hearing."
* * *
Rosenhaus did not participate in the hearing. He was not obligated to participate. Why would he? He would have to take sides in such an investigation, and that would not be good for business.
Several weeks ago, I learned that the 49ers do not hold Rosenhaus responsible for any of this mess. The 49ers believe the Bears are solely to blame. But if the Bears truly believed the 49ers were trying to undermine them during the season to get a head start on acquiring Briggs through free agency, you can't blame them for being upset. After all, the 49ers were prohibited from signing Briggs to a contract extension during the season because he was the Bears' franchise player.
* * *
Goodell is obviously taking this tampering stuff seriously. It's logical to think that he wanted to show the rest of the league that he means business.
According to the Washington Post, Goodell recently sent out a memo in which he instructed the members of the competition committee to review all the league's rules, including those that prohibit contact between teams and players under contract to other clubs.
Hey, look, we all know that tampering takes place after the season. But there is no reason for any club to complain because they all do it. Most of the time a player reaches the open market, he is not going to return to his original club, anyway.
In the past handful of years, I might have had some knowledge of tampering. One year, a free-agent-to-be told me off the record a couple days before free agency exactly which teams were courting him. Another time, a player said privately, "I know where I'm going but I just can say."
Players make cross-country flights on the first day of free agency every year. They board planes just hours after the official start of the free-agent signing period. Heck, some people pointed to my report within the first 30 minutes of free agency that Justin Smiley had agreed to terms with the Dolphins as proof of tampering. Is that proof? No. Theoretically, the Dolphins could've called the moment free agency opened, offered a big deal that it knew Smiley would not turn down.
But you won't see the 49ers complain because they knew they would not be competitive with any contract he was offered. Complaining would serve no benefit. What goes around, comes around.
* * *
So why did the Bears push the issue?
It is my understanding the Bears complained to the league office during the season. They might have thought that it's one thing to tamper after the season but another thing when it can cause a distraction to a player and an entire team.
But there's also word floating around that the Bears started asking some prominent players in the locker room how it would be received if the club were to trade Briggs during the season. The Bears spoke to the 49ers about a trade. It is not known how serious the talks got. Personally, I don't think the 49ers were ever all that intent on acquiring Briggs. I remember one off-the-cuff exchange I had with 49ers coach Mike Nolan after the report of the trade talks.
I made some wisecrack to Nolan about looking forward to meeting Briggs on the first-day of free agency. Nolan sort of shook his head and said something along the lines of, "I wouldn't put all your eggs in that basket, if I were you."
Reading Nolan's body language -- remember, I deal with this man almost every day for five months -- and factoring in the context of our conversation, I quickly deduced that the 49ers were not as interested in him as everyone believed.
* * *
According to the NFL, the Bears never gave the 49ers permission to speak with Rosenhaus. And, from what I've learned, the 49ers never did speak with Rosenhaus. Just two missed calls. It seems the 49ers are being punished for the intent to speak with Rosenhaus.
During the 2006 season, I remember when Frank Gore switched agents. He hired Rosenhaus. I talked to Scot McCloughan one day and suggested that Rosenhaus' arrival on the scene might be bad news for the 49ers. McCloughan disagreed. He said Rosenhaus is nothing like his public persona. He said he is a good agent with whom to deal. A couple months later, Gore and the 49ers signed a contract extension that appeared to be fair for both sides.
So why were the 49ers calling Rosenhaus? Was it to talk numbers regarding Briggs? Or did they want to touch base to speak about some of Rosenhaus' other clients, such as Gore, Jason Hill or Moran Norris? One source offered that the 49ers might have wanted a quick update on what was going on with Taylor Jacobs, whom the 49ers had recently released. Jacobs is also a Rosenhaus client.
* * *
This is the third time this decade the 49ers have forfeited a draft pick. The club gave up a fifth-round pick in 2001 and a third-round pick in 2002 as part of a settlement for alleged salary-cap improprieties. Moreover, the 49ers were fined $300,000, while former club executives Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark were fined, $400,000 and $200,000 respectively.
* * *
After today's rulings, here are the 49ers 2008 draft selections (the exact picks after the third round will be determined after the league assigns compensatory picks; the 49ers will not receive any compensatory selections):
Round 1, No. 29, Overall 29 (from Colts)
Round 2, No. 8, Overall 39
Round 3, No. 12, Overall 75 (formerly Bears' pick)
Round 4, No. 8
Round 6, No. 8
Round 7, No. 7
WHAT A BUNCH OF BULLLSHIT!
heres from MM
League's evidence: Two '20-second' phone calls?
This is a situation that has been mystifying from the beginning. Why would the 49ers want to pay a ton of money to somebody who essentially plays the same position as Patrick Willis? And, certainly, why would they break the rules to expedite the process of over-paying somebody who would throw the club's entire salary structure out of whack?
Very little is known about the NFL's investigation and the hearing that took place last Monday in New York. But I heard essentially the same thing from two different league sources today.
From what I can gather, the only solid evidence against the 49ers during the hearing was a phone record of two calls the club placed to agent Drew Rosenhaus, who represents Bears linebacker Lance Briggs.
One story is that there were two "missed calls" with no voice messages. The second version - essentially corroborating the first report - was that there were two "20-second" phone calls. In other words, a 20-second phone call is a "missed call."
When I asked league spokesman Randall Liu for a comment about the evidence against the 49ers, he responded, "The statement is all we are saying regarding this matter."
* * *
Here is the statement from the league office to which he referred:
"Following a detailed investigation and a hearing, Commissioner Roger Goodell has determined that the San Francisco 49ers violated the NFL Anti-Tampering Policy by contacting the agent for Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs during the 2007 season without the Bears' permission.
"The Bears had filed tampering charges against the 49ers to initiate the proceeding. The Bears re-signed Lance Briggs at the beginning of this year's veteran free agency signing period.
"Commissioner Goodell decided on the following disciplinary action to resolve the matter:
"--San Francisco will forfeit its fifth-round selection in the 2008 NFL Draft.
"--Chicago and San Francisco will switch third-round selections in the 2008 Draft. As a result, Chicago now will have the seventh selection of the third round and San Francisco will have the 12th selection of the third round.
"Commissioner Goodell noted that both the 49ers and Bears fully cooperated with his investigation and hearing."
* * *
Rosenhaus did not participate in the hearing. He was not obligated to participate. Why would he? He would have to take sides in such an investigation, and that would not be good for business.
Several weeks ago, I learned that the 49ers do not hold Rosenhaus responsible for any of this mess. The 49ers believe the Bears are solely to blame. But if the Bears truly believed the 49ers were trying to undermine them during the season to get a head start on acquiring Briggs through free agency, you can't blame them for being upset. After all, the 49ers were prohibited from signing Briggs to a contract extension during the season because he was the Bears' franchise player.
* * *
Goodell is obviously taking this tampering stuff seriously. It's logical to think that he wanted to show the rest of the league that he means business.
According to the Washington Post, Goodell recently sent out a memo in which he instructed the members of the competition committee to review all the league's rules, including those that prohibit contact between teams and players under contract to other clubs.
Hey, look, we all know that tampering takes place after the season. But there is no reason for any club to complain because they all do it. Most of the time a player reaches the open market, he is not going to return to his original club, anyway.
In the past handful of years, I might have had some knowledge of tampering. One year, a free-agent-to-be told me off the record a couple days before free agency exactly which teams were courting him. Another time, a player said privately, "I know where I'm going but I just can say."
Players make cross-country flights on the first day of free agency every year. They board planes just hours after the official start of the free-agent signing period. Heck, some people pointed to my report within the first 30 minutes of free agency that Justin Smiley had agreed to terms with the Dolphins as proof of tampering. Is that proof? No. Theoretically, the Dolphins could've called the moment free agency opened, offered a big deal that it knew Smiley would not turn down.
But you won't see the 49ers complain because they knew they would not be competitive with any contract he was offered. Complaining would serve no benefit. What goes around, comes around.
* * *
So why did the Bears push the issue?
It is my understanding the Bears complained to the league office during the season. They might have thought that it's one thing to tamper after the season but another thing when it can cause a distraction to a player and an entire team.
But there's also word floating around that the Bears started asking some prominent players in the locker room how it would be received if the club were to trade Briggs during the season. The Bears spoke to the 49ers about a trade. It is not known how serious the talks got. Personally, I don't think the 49ers were ever all that intent on acquiring Briggs. I remember one off-the-cuff exchange I had with 49ers coach Mike Nolan after the report of the trade talks.
I made some wisecrack to Nolan about looking forward to meeting Briggs on the first-day of free agency. Nolan sort of shook his head and said something along the lines of, "I wouldn't put all your eggs in that basket, if I were you."
Reading Nolan's body language -- remember, I deal with this man almost every day for five months -- and factoring in the context of our conversation, I quickly deduced that the 49ers were not as interested in him as everyone believed.
* * *
According to the NFL, the Bears never gave the 49ers permission to speak with Rosenhaus. And, from what I've learned, the 49ers never did speak with Rosenhaus. Just two missed calls. It seems the 49ers are being punished for the intent to speak with Rosenhaus.
During the 2006 season, I remember when Frank Gore switched agents. He hired Rosenhaus. I talked to Scot McCloughan one day and suggested that Rosenhaus' arrival on the scene might be bad news for the 49ers. McCloughan disagreed. He said Rosenhaus is nothing like his public persona. He said he is a good agent with whom to deal. A couple months later, Gore and the 49ers signed a contract extension that appeared to be fair for both sides.
So why were the 49ers calling Rosenhaus? Was it to talk numbers regarding Briggs? Or did they want to touch base to speak about some of Rosenhaus' other clients, such as Gore, Jason Hill or Moran Norris? One source offered that the 49ers might have wanted a quick update on what was going on with Taylor Jacobs, whom the 49ers had recently released. Jacobs is also a Rosenhaus client.
* * *
This is the third time this decade the 49ers have forfeited a draft pick. The club gave up a fifth-round pick in 2001 and a third-round pick in 2002 as part of a settlement for alleged salary-cap improprieties. Moreover, the 49ers were fined $300,000, while former club executives Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark were fined, $400,000 and $200,000 respectively.
* * *
After today's rulings, here are the 49ers 2008 draft selections (the exact picks after the third round will be determined after the league assigns compensatory picks; the 49ers will not receive any compensatory selections):
Round 1, No. 29, Overall 29 (from Colts)
Round 2, No. 8, Overall 39
Round 3, No. 12, Overall 75 (formerly Bears' pick)
Round 4, No. 8
Round 6, No. 8
Round 7, No. 7
WHAT A BUNCH OF BULLLSHIT!
lol so by calling rosenhaus 2x is breaking the rules? when hes representing some current players and a WR they were considering bringing back? there is no proof there were tampering
Why arent they going after the Dolphins? 49er G Justin Smiley was signed 30 mins into free agency....
Every team does it, this is bullshit... and u know it is, i think the Titans should be penalized a pick for allowing pacman to continue to engage in his illicit activities and fuck up.........
Why arent they going after the Dolphins? 49er G Justin Smiley was signed 30 mins into free agency....
Every team does it, this is bullshit... and u know it is, i think the Titans should be penalized a pick for allowing pacman to continue to engage in his illicit activities and fuck up.........